Sunday, February 10, 2013

I've been meeting a lot of people recently, from fellow Amnesty members to fellow Rotarians. I honestly am amazed by the similarities we all have despite the fact that we all come from different cultures. Some, in particular, shocked me, and not in a good way. Just when I thought the days of ignorance and disrespect towards a religion different than yours were over, I saw that some people think that "Muslims" shouldn't be allowed to join Rotary or any other International organization or to be integrated within the International Community.
I don't even know how they even "allow" themselves to think that way or to even say that publicly. What puzzled me even more is that those people are not only Westerners (like most of us will tend to think), they are a lot closer than we think, in regions such as South Asia and Latin America. Having a really curious spirit I went searching for answers.

"Islamic terrorists", "Muslims fundamentalists", "Extremists". Those were the labels I got when asking. The media's portrayal of Islam often misleads those whose knowledge is limited, about religions in particular, in making negative assumptions about this peaceful religion, and often in making fools out of themselves as well.
Let me tell you something, muslim does not mean terrorist. I would really like to know what "their" definition of terrorism is. What do they call those people who go out and kill innocent children in USA? We cannot deny the fact that some terrorist organizations are muslim, but are they all? What about the Italian Mafias? I don't reckon they are.
Muslim does not mean extremist. I am muslim, I believe in my religion, I fast and pray, do I go and try to margenilize people from other religions? People often ask me about my religion because they can't guess what religion I am, because I do not impose it on them. Some don't even bother asking, they only care about the values and moral standards of the person, and I deeply admire that way of thinking.
On the other hand, concervative does not mean extremist and an extremist isn't necessarly a terrorist. I know a lot of concervative people, and none of them go and massacre people from other religions and would never consider hurting a human being.
Thinking that all muslims are like Al Qaeda or Taliba is wrong and unnaceptable. Generalizing a small group of people's twisted and sick minds hungry for blood on millions of people is just not logical at all. I wonder if the people who think that way know that Islam itself denounces terrorism. It is clear that taking a person's life, including your own, is strictly forbidden by the religion and will be punished.
So my friends, people with limited thinking and analyzing capacity, who don't know a thing about religions and yet tend to judge are called IGNORANTS no matter what degree of education they have. They should lock themselves inside a dark room, as dark as their minds and that would make the world a better place. We are in 2013 for God's sake. If them who come from "developed" countries and are called the "intellectual" class of the society think that way, how dare we even call them "educated"?

Accepting others is a MUST in our times. If they cannot respect the religion of an enormous number of people and judge everyone who belongs to it, I would like to know on what standards are they basing their judgment? Who do they think they are, and who made them think they are better than the others?
Well that leaves me wondering who the real "extremists" are.